Titan

Nine Is FINE

Walt H. Rambaransingh | Date 03/30/14

On a windy, cool day, the Titans continued their 2014 40 over campaign with a home game vs Port St. Lucie CC. Game 7 of the 2014 40 over campaign would be played at Miramar Regional Park. Titans CC won the toss and elected to bat first. The team welcomed new player Leon to the squad.

Chucky & Skipper Tiki opened the batting due to Dalip’s absence. The openers batted with purpose and established a 121 run opening partnership. Tiki & Chucky scored 52 & 51 runs, respectively. Aditya played his best innings of the year with a solid 33 runs (n.o.). Praveen played a quick cameo with 16 runs but was bowled after scoring 2 well stroked boundaries. Rakesh then came in at 5 and established a 46 run partnership with Aditya. Rakesh lost his wicket in the 39th over after adding a quick 23 runs. At the end of the first innings, Titans scored 213 runs with 4 wickets lost in 40 overs. The score was a bit under par for the ground but the squad went into the 2nd innings ready to defend their total.

Santosh & Walt opened the bowling to defend the 213 runs. Santosh took his first wicket of the day with the first ball of his first over when the on-strike opening batman edged it to Brandon, thereby busting Brandon’s proverbial “catching cherry” for the Titans squad. Santosh got his second wicket of the day in his second over when Aditya snatched a high catch that he thought would be beyond his reach to send danger batsman Rodney Husbands back to the sideline. Former US player Tony Reid them came to the crease and established a solid 74 run partnership with Roger Joshua aka “Trini”. Joshua lost his wicket by edging one back to WK Skipper Tiki off Errol’s bowling. New player Leon quickly took the wicket of the next batsman by getting him to give an easy catch to Aditya at the cover position. PSL Skipper Richard Louis then entered the game and lost his wicket for a golden duck by sending a high catch to Santosh at deep mid-wicket into swirling winds. Louis’ early exit gave the Titans extra confidence to go after the remaining batsmen with vigor. There were a total of nine catches taken on the day, many of which were memorable including Errol’s “blind”, diving catch at short point to remove Reid, Aditya’s high-reaching catch to remove Husbands, Santosh’s deep mid-wicket catch to remove Louis & Leon’s 2 catches on the day. Bowling highlights included Santosh’s 4 wickets & Errol’s 3 wickets on the day. At the end of the innings, St. Lucie CC made 159 runs all out after 29.2 overs. Titans CC win by 54 runs. Titans CC Bowling details of the day are below:

Santosh – 7.2 overs, 0 maidens, 49 runs, 4 wickets, 11 wides.
Walt- 4 overs, 0 maidens, 22 runs, 0 wickets, 2 wides.
Errol- 8 overs, 1 maiden, 33 runs, 3 wickets, 3 wides.
Leon- 7 overs, 1 maiden, 31 runs, 1 wicket, 1 wide.
Sandeep - 3 overs, 0 maidens, 22 runs, 2 wickets, 2 wides.

The 5th win of the season came against the #1 team in the division and was a good measuring stick of how far the squad had evolved since game 1. The Titans squad played well in all 3 aspects of the game. Both openers, Chucky & Skipper Tiki scored 50s while Aditya played an important role scoring 33 runs (n.o.) at 1-down. Bowling was fairly efficient with many dot balls in the 29.2 overs bowled. At the end of the day, NINE catches were taken in the field, with very memorable ones from Aditya, Errol & Santosh. As the 2nd half of the season begins, the Titans record stands at 5 wins and 2 losses with ascension to the #1 position in the division. The squad will continue to learn from game to game & not allow any complacency regardless of the team’s record. At the end of the day, a good, solid win for the Titans that showed progression in the first half of the season.